Martinsburg daily gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1887-1887, 1887-05-09

Square Miles of OIL Region.
The great town of Baku has now a
coast line of about six miles, sweeping
around well protected harbor crowded
with shipping ships Of all tonnage, all
| fitted with tanks to store the oil that
pours from hundred fountains From
/ time iTns1.emorial this spot has been
deemed scored by the Ghebres of Persia,
who recognize in the flame of the native
naphtiIa q sacred fire symbol Here for at
I least 2, 600 years the sacred earth fed flame
| has burned increasingly, and the temple
of Surukhani has been center of reyer-
| elit pilgrimage. This native rapfltha flows
\ from the soil in so pure a form as 70 burn
without rectifcation, ind is, indeed, SO in
| fianmable that the naphtha gas occas-
! ionally ignites spontaneously and plays
1 in pale flames above assures in the rock.
/ On stormy nights these flames have been
| seen to blaze up with an awful spirit
/ light, which, to the eyes of the Ghebres,
/ invested the spot with special sanctity-a
sanctity intensified by the fact that hers,
according to Arabian chroniclers, q great
1 volcanic mountain was in full action oil
/ 800 years ago. Since then the thermal
forces have expended their energies on
spouting oil and Herewith saturating the
desert plain of the Aspheros peninsula;
and truly more repulsive site fo q great
| city could not well be found.
i 1t is plain about fifteen miles in width
and prrjecting thirty miles int the Cas-
plan from the point where the Caucasus
4 terminates on its shores. The whole sur
i face Of the grounu is black with waste
petroleum. which in cold weather hardens
to the consistency of asphalt, whereas be-
i meath the blazing midsummer sun the
foot sinks in 10 the depth of two or three
+ inches Every breath of. wind raises
binding clouds of black, bitunninous dust,
formed by the coarse black naphtha with
which the streets are periodically wa
tered, true water being too precious TO
be thus wasted. This dust, combined
with the dense smoke poured from the
chiInncys of somewhere about 500 REIN
ing factories, does nothing to improve the
atmosphere And here, day and night,
the oil fountains pour forth their hideous
black streams. They yield IN average of
from % to IS per cent. of pure oil, and
from go to 30 per cent. of refuse, which
makes excellent fuel for the great fleets
of oil steamers and locomotives. The
supply may well be deemed ine1llaustible,
inasinuch as 1000 square miles in this
region are found to be oleifer0us, and of
this vast surface only six miles have as
yet been developed The oil bearing
stratum extends beqeath the Caspian,
where it crops up in 1ehelikan, a true isle
of OIL Here the oil literally streams into
the sea from hillsand cliffs, which may be
said to be formed of ozokcrite-in other
words, of crude paraffinc On the eastern
shore of the CaGpianit reappears at various
points, as, for instance, ct the Nett or
Naphtha hill, where the deposits are of
ficially valued at e35. 0G0 COO
THE FIRE Giants SPORT.
Now, the fire giant VIC tends the great
laboratory beneath the Caspian seems to
emulate the example of his brethren in
New Zealand and Tonga. Hitherto lie has
been satisfied with such sport as turning
on such an oil stream as that which gushed
n forth three years ago from one of the
Baku springs, spouttng with such force as
to break to pieces a three inch cast iron
pipe which had been fastened over the
well in order to divert the flow to diff
ferent direction. "A neighboring oil spring,
on being tapped, threw up column of
petroleum to twice the height of the
Great Geyser in Iceland, forming huge
black fountain 200 feet in height-a foun-
tain, however attributed solely to the re-
moval of the pressure on the confined gas,
as there is no perceptible heat in these
. geysers. 1t was visible for many miles
around, and on the first day it poured
forth about $4,000 barrels, and, with
gradually diminishing volume, continued
to play for five months, when it finally
subsidized, leaving its unfortunate owners
ian Armenian company well nigh ruined
by the claims brought against it by neigh
bors whose lands were destroyed by the
oil flood.
On the night of the 10th of January